I think I made a big boo-boo with my new fish shipment. I understood that Weather Loach were tolerant of cooler water, so I decided that they would be an excellent addition to an outdoor pond that I built into my back deck.
The pond had three gar (1 LNG ~15" x 2 florida (7" & 8"), a high-fin pleco (6") and an albino channel catfish (~ 9") as residents. I added four bowfin (5" - 6") and eight out of the ten largest Weather Loaches. BAD MOVE!
I am playing heck with the LNG. He eats meat off a stick, or from my hand sometimes, but not with consistantly as do my gator gar & floridas.
He devoured the smallest of the eight within the first half hour. Another got shredded and eaten by one of the baby bowfins! Three more jumped through the netting (1" x 1" nylon faberic mesh) covering the pond to the wood porch floor.
I scooped them up and put them in an aquarium (they will need to withstand upper 70's F now). While they were only $1 apiece, I did not intend them to be feeder fish! Everything was peaceful this morning. The three that remained in the pond from last night were still in there swiming around this morning.
What should I do!
1. Should I try to remove them? Netting fish is my LEAST favorite thing about the hobby!
2. Should I wait for them to do the deck dive and rehome them in aquaria if I get to them in time?
3. Should I let nature take its course and hope that the remaining three (which appear to be the largest of the original ten) are accepted into this otherwise native cool water outdoor pond, and accept the loss if they are eaten or dry-out as a learning experience?
4. Other option(s)?
The pond had three gar (1 LNG ~15" x 2 florida (7" & 8"), a high-fin pleco (6") and an albino channel catfish (~ 9") as residents. I added four bowfin (5" - 6") and eight out of the ten largest Weather Loaches. BAD MOVE!
I am playing heck with the LNG. He eats meat off a stick, or from my hand sometimes, but not with consistantly as do my gator gar & floridas.
He devoured the smallest of the eight within the first half hour. Another got shredded and eaten by one of the baby bowfins! Three more jumped through the netting (1" x 1" nylon faberic mesh) covering the pond to the wood porch floor.
I scooped them up and put them in an aquarium (they will need to withstand upper 70's F now). While they were only $1 apiece, I did not intend them to be feeder fish! Everything was peaceful this morning. The three that remained in the pond from last night were still in there swiming around this morning.
What should I do!
1. Should I try to remove them? Netting fish is my LEAST favorite thing about the hobby!
2. Should I wait for them to do the deck dive and rehome them in aquaria if I get to them in time?
3. Should I let nature take its course and hope that the remaining three (which appear to be the largest of the original ten) are accepted into this otherwise native cool water outdoor pond, and accept the loss if they are eaten or dry-out as a learning experience?
4. Other option(s)?
Poor loaches.